Any idea what kind of wood this is on my stanley plane? Ebony?

[Zach England]

I have a type 19 no. 4, but it does not have the rosewood or black painted "furniture" that Patrick Leech describes. At first I thought they were some kind of composite, but I took them off and they are definitely wood. I can clearly see the grain in the unfinished bottom of the tote and the wood is clearly dark throughout as I can tell by looking through the drilled holes. Is it ebony? I am not too familiar with tropical woods and don't have many samples around my shop to compare to. The tote next to it is from a Bed Rock and I imagine it must be rosewood. i have taken photos next to it for color comparison. Any idea I what I am looking at here? Is it user-made? If so it is quite refined, unlike like the usual user-made totes I have encountered on old planes. The knob matches.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o237/zachslc/IMG_1352.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o237/zachslc/IMG_1320.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o237/zachslc/IMG_1354.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o237/zachslc/IMG_1337.jpg

[David Weaver]

Stained rosewood, maybe.

[Jim Koepke]

My recollection is that Stanley did use some rosewood after WW II. The clear coating they used wasn't that clear and actually obscured the wood underneath. They may have used a lot of the dark paint they used to cover the light wood handles they used during the war.

A quick check of https://home.comcast.net/~rarebear/planes101/typing/typing.htm confirms my memory.

jtk

[Zach England]

Do you think the color variation between the darker and lighter one preclude them from both being rosewood? I know "rosewood" can actually mean a number of things.

[Michael Peet]

I have a small ebony board, and what you have does not look like it. That handle would be heavier than it looks. See if it floats. :)

Mike

[george wilson]

Some Brazilian rosewood can turn as black as ebony when it is oiled. The grip looks like rosewood on the bottom. In the old days they always used Brazilian.

[Chris Vandiver]

The unfinished bottom of the tote looks like it may be some dark East Indian rosewood, to me.

[george wilson]

The long pores look like Brazilian to me,and I used it for nearly all the guitars I made for decades. It also has a distinct peppery smell when sanded,IF you have worked it,you'll always recognize it.

I'm not a Stanley collector,but I never saw any OLD Stanleys that used any other rosewood. When the embargo in 1969 happened,alternative rosewoods began to be used.

[Silas Smith]

I have a #4 from about the same time and my tote looks like it came from the same batch. I even scrapped a bit from the bottom to see if it was just patina, but I don't think so. I assumed it was just a very dark rosewood. I have to say though that aesthetically, this is my favorite handle of my limited collection.

[Zach England]

I have a #4 from about the same time and my tote looks like it came from the same batch. I even scrapped a bit from the bottom to see if it was just patina, but I don't think so. I assumed it was just a very dark rosewood. I have to say though that aesthetically, this is my favorite handle of my limited collection.

I agree that they are very nice. This plane is for sale in the classifieds, but I had hesitated for a long time to sell it because of the beautiful wood. I tried to put the wood parts on a Bed Rock 4 that I am not selling, but the knob did not quite fit right.

[Klaus Kretschmar]

I agree with George. It looks like Brazilian Rosewood, definitely not like Ebony. My vintage #4 Type 9 Bailey has a very similar handle. When I got it, I thought that the blackish colour would be patina. It wasn't. After having sanded and reoiled it, it came out nearly pitch black as it was before.

Klaus

[jamie shard]

+1 on oiled rosewood, it turns really dark. I love that look.